Robins ace hit by bronchitis

ALUN Rossiter is hopeful a weekend’s rest will help Troy Batchelor beat bronchitis and take his place in tonight’s Elite League final second leg.

The Australian has been on lockdown at the De Vere Hotel in West Swindon throughout the weekend as he bids to recover from the illness, which forced him to pull out of Saturday night’s Elite League Riders’ Championship at Blunsdon.

It is thought Batchelor picked up the virus riding in the renowned Czech Golden Helmet meeting recently, but Rossiter is hopeful the rest will do him good. “Troy is at Swindon and is at the De Vere, but he was as rough as guts when I last saw him,” he said.

“I saw him when he got back to Swindon on Friday night and he looked absolutely awful, and he has had bronchitis and a cold and all sorts of things, and he was very rough.

“It is probably for the best that the meeting was called off on Friday because it gives him that little bit longer to get himself ready.

“Hopefully a few extra days will do him the world of good, and he will be ready to go at Poole.”

Rossiter believes the Australian made the right decision to pull out of Saturday night’s meeting, which was eventually won by his fellow countryman Chris Holder.

“There was no point at all in him turning up to Blunsdon to ride on Saturday night, because it would only have made things worse,” he said.

“He would only have ridden in one of his races and then he would have pulled out, that’s what would have happened, and there is no point in him doing that at all.

“It would have wasted everyone’s time, so it was much better that someone got in there who wanted to have a race.

“It was the right call for him and he needed to rest, and he told me that his focus was all on winning the league for us and being ready for Monday, so you have to respect him for that really.”